


Turn the Car Around

by PKQ



Category: Single Parents (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Idiots in Love, Post-Season/Series 02, Romance, Season Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24299827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PKQ/pseuds/PKQ
Summary: “Oh my god!” Angie says again, this time much louder, and Derek takes his eyes off the road to stare at her. She feels panicked and surprised and stupid for not realizing it sooner. Will is in love with her. “Stop the car!” Angie yells before she can stop herself.
Relationships: Will Cooper/Angie D'Amato
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	Turn the Car Around

“Oh my god,” Angie says quietly before placing the top back on her candle as reality begins to hit her like a ton of bricks. She ignores Derek when he asks her what’s wrong because all she can think about Is her resurfaced memory, about how Will is in love with her. 

Will is in love with her.

“Oh my god!” Angie says again, this time much louder, and Derek takes his eyes off the road to stare at her. She feels panicked and surprised and stupid for not realizing it sooner. Will is in love with her. “Stop the car!” Angie yells before she can stop herself. 

Derek looks concerned but nevertheless obeys and pulls the car to the side of the road. “Angie, what the hell? What’s wrong?” He asks, but all Angie can feel is her heart about to beat out of her skin. She can’t breathe and it’s stuffy and where did all the air go in the car all of the sudden? 

Yanking at the door handle, Angie stumbles out of the car, her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. She hears the driver’s side door click open and then Derek is by her side once again asking her what’s wrong. Angie knows she has to tell him, has to make sense of all of this.

“Will is in love with me,” her words come out breathless and she can feel the tears burning in the back of her eyes. 

Derek seems taken aback and his hand finds his forehead as he begins pacing behind Angie. 

“Shit. SHIT!” He says before slamming a fist into the hood of his car. The loud thud pulls Angie back to reality and she turns around, staring at Derek, Graham’s dad, the man she once loved and thought she could maybe love again, speechless.

There’s a long moment of silence before Angie finally breaks the tension. “You have to take me back. We need to turn the car around,” she says under her breath, but she’s not sure that was the right thing to say because Derek looks heartbroken.

“No,” he says in a voice so small that Angie could barely hear him. “No,” he repeats himself, this time yelling. “You can’t go back. Angie, please! This our chance, our chance to be a real family!”

And dammit, this is all too much for her to handle right now. She just wishes she could have some sign from the universe telling her what she needs to do, it would be so much easier. “I have feelings for him too.”

“Angie please,” Derek says and all of the sudden he’s on his knees in front of her holding her hand in his own. “Im in love with you too. Please, Angie, this is our chance to be a true family. I missed the first 9 years of Graham’s life, and I don’t want to miss anymore. I’m begging you,” his voice breaks on the last sentence, and the tears are running down his face. Angie can’t stop staring into his huge, sad eyes, the same eyes she knows Graham inherited and uses to his advantage whenever he wants something. And dammit all to hell, seeing a grown man cry has caused her to start crying and she just doesn’t know what to do.

“This is all so confusing,” she sputters and her brain feels like it’s about to explode.

“Please just come with me and let me show you what our life as a family could look like. Graham could have a full family.”

Angie wants to say no, she want to go back and tell Will how she feels, but she also wants Graham to be with his dad. “Fine, yeah, okay,” she says finally, pulling her hand away from Derek’s to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “Let’s go to Barstow.”

* * *

Angie doesn’t talk to Will the first 8 days in Barstow. Instead, she tries to think about anything but him. She tries to imagine what her life could be like, the 3 of them living together in Barstow. She tries to remind herself she’s doing this for Graham, that she wants him to have a happy home with a full family. 

And it works for the first few days. She goes out on a date with Derek and she tries to make herself feel something for him, but instead there’s a constant nagging at the back of her mind, telling her he’s not right for her. She tries to make it work, she really does, for Graham, but it’s not working. 

It’s 11:34 pm on a Tuesday night, and Angie is laying on the guest room bed, far from asleep. Derek has been asleep for the past 2 hours, complaining he’s tired from working the late shift the two nights before. 

It’s 11:34 pm on a Tuesday night, and Angie finally gives in, pulling her phone out and texting Will. 

_ Hey, wanna talk? _

She knows it’s a long-shot and Will is probably mad at her, or asleep, but Angie knows she has to at least try. She starts to lose hope after receiving no response in the first five minutes and starts to close her eyes and doze off before all of the sudden she hears her phone buzzing. Will is FaceTiming her.

Angie can feel her heart beating hard in her chest as she slides her phone open to answer the call.

“Hey, Will,” she says, trying her best to sound collected.

“Angie,” comes the response from the other end. Just the sound of her name coming from his mouth makes her heart skip a beat and dammit it when did he get even handsomer?

“Will, I’ve really missed you,” she says, and once again she can feel the tears threatening her eyes.

“I’ve missed you too.”

There’s a long drawn out pause before the tears come pouring from her eyes, she just can’t take it any longer. She’s living in a house with a man she doesn’t love, away from a man she does love and all of her friends. Family shouldn’t feel like this, Derek is not her family. A sob escapes from her lips and she can recognize Will’s heart breaking on the other end of the phone.

“Ange, what's wrong?” He asks, his voice sweet and calm.

“Will, I can’t do this anymore. I can’t live here, I just can’t. I thought I could do this, try to be a family, try to do it for Graham, but I can’t. Will, I don’t love Derek-“ Angie takes a shaky breath before finishing, “Will, I love you,”

She can see the hope in his eyes, the absolute joy mixed with pain and heartbreak, as he replies, “oh, Angie, I love you too.” 

A small laugh escapes from her mouth as she allows herself to soak in the small moment of joy, that is, before her mind starts racing again. 

“Will, I can’t live here anymore. Derek convinced me to stay the first time, but I can’t let that happen again. I need to get out of here.”

“Can I come get you?” Will responds immediately.

Angie can feel her body shaking with tears again and all she can manage is a, “yes, please.”

“Okay, hang tight. I’m leaving now and I’ll be there in a couple hours, okay? Pack up your stuff and let’s get you the hell out of there,” Will replies quickly, and Angie can see from the shaking of the video that he’s already up and moving, heading towards his kitchen. 

“It’s almost midnight, you don’t have to come tonight, Will,” Angie says, but she can’t wait to see him and get the hell out of Barstow. 

“I’m already out the door,” comes the response from the other end, and Angie can see he’s already in his car. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay, see you soon,” Angie says back before hanging up the call and getting to her feet to start packing up her stuff.

* * *

It takes Will a record one hour and 42 minutes to make it to Barstow. It takes Angie less than an hour to pack up her stuff. 

She considers waking up Derek to tell him she’s leaving. She knows she should, that it would be the right thing to do, but Angie can’t bring herself to open his bedroom door. Derek would try to convince her to stay and she knows she can’t. She decides on writing a note instead.

At first she feels bad, but then Angie reminds herself that this is the same guy that left her, pregnant and alone at a bus station 9 years ago. She has nothing to feel bad about. 

As she wraps up her note, Angie hears a soft knock on the door. Rushing to answer it, she’s met with the huge smile of her best friend. 

“Hi Will,” she says before they simultaneously move towards each other, their lips crashing together. Angie's hands finds their way around Wills neck, and his hands are on her waist pulling her flush against his body. He’s warm and smells of cinnamon, probably from something he was baking earlier that day, but the kiss is urgent and needy. It’s messy, and their teeth are hitting against each other, but Will’s tongue exploring her mouth is enough to keep her grounded. When they finally pull away, both out of breath, Angie feels dizzy. 

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that,” he says before pulling her into an engulfing hug.

“Me too,” she responds, closing her eyes, burying her face in his neck and breathing him in. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Will and Angie head out after packing her garbage bags filled with clothes into the car. Angie doesn’t bother saying goodbye to Derek, because she knows this isn’t the last she’ll see of him. She doesn’t feel guilty because she’s finally acting upon her own feelings so that she can be happy. She doesn’t feel scared because she knows she has her best friend by her side, the man who was willing to drive 2 hours to bring her home in the dead of night. 

Derek will always be in both hers and Graham’s life because he will always be Graham’s dad. But, Angie knows just how much Will means to both of her and Graham, and that the four of them could actually be a real family together. 

“What are you thinking about?” Will asks, glancing away from the road at 3:07 am when he notices Angie smiling. 

Angie puts her hand on his right shoulder, rubbing a few circles with her thumb before responding.

“Us.” 

* * *

_ Dear Derek, _

_ I’m really sorry for how this all turned out, but I had to leave. I’m not in love with you, and I’m sorry about that. _

_ I thought that by coming here this summer, me you and Graham could have a chance at being a family. I only want the best for my son, and I mistakenly thought that forcing myself to try to find something with you would be the best for Graham.  _

_ But, these past eight days with you have made me realize something. Any chance the three of us had at being a traditional family flew out the window the day you left me, pregnant, at the bus stop.  _

_ Graham is the greatest boy in the world and I only want the absolute best for him. I hope you will continue to be in mine and Graham’s life, because no matter what, you’ll always be his dad. I hope that you know just how special he is.  _

_ I’m sorry it ended like this, but I know that if I woke you up, you’d try to convince me to stay, and that’s not what’s best for Graham or for me.  _

_ I’ll talk to you soon, _

_ Angie _

**Author's Note:**

> #renewsingleparentsseason3


End file.
